Biography

Introduction

Reprazent is a British drum and bass act formed by Roni Size. Their debut album New Forms won the Mercury Music Prize in 1997. Their follow-up album In The Mode featured the likes of Rahzel, Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man.

Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of his Mercury Music Prize^{[citation needed]} winning album 'New Forms' on Universal. 2009 is shaping up to be another busy year for Reprazent, with a new album and a Reprazent tour across venues and festivals across the world.

Roni Size and Reprazent create music that contains many hip hop elements like “meticulously crafted break-beats that, when slowed down, revealed themselves as hip-hop beats”. This refashioning of imported hip-hop is distinct to the UK and the genre of drum ’n’ bass or and jungle. The dark images and beats are characteristic of jungle music as well as the emphasis on production and DJs. In addition, this music combines the styles of hip-hop and rave to produce a unique sound to the UK in the 1990s. However unlike most jungle music that does not translate to live performance well, Reprazent was said to be the best live band in summer festivals of 2001. The most popular track, “Brown Paper Bag” has received praise from all over as being a “masterpiece: an essay in hyperkinetic pace, it piles up teetering stacks of instrumental layers, their cumulative weight triggering each step in a constant cycle of demolition and reconstruction of its latticework of melody, rhythm and mood”

'Roni Size & Reprazent' released their New Forms LP. Winning the Mercury Music Prize boosted their international^{[citation needed]}. The singles from the album all featured the unmistakable vocals of Onallee whose call for the music in 'Brown Paper Bag' is a signal all ravers still respond to. The album went platinum^{[citation needed]} and Roni and the boys returned to the studio to concentrate on their output for V and Full Cycle & Dope Dragon.

Reforming the band, complete with original members Dynamite MC, Onallee and highly acclaimed bass player Si John alongside Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef, Roni Size and Reprazent toured some of the biggest festivals in Europe including Bestival, Glastonbury, Lovebox, Exit and Rock Herk. As a result, they were amongst the nominations for best dance act from the UK Festival Awards^{[citation needed]}.